Type approval is the process, through which the conformity of
GMPCS equipment with regulatory technical requirements is assessed.
These technical requirements are mainly intended to ensure that
GMPCS products do not harm networks, other users or other equipment
and a variety of procedures (ranging from obligatory third party
testing towards manufacturers declaration) may be in place. Compliance
with these requirements may be imposed in order to allow the product
to be legally placed on the market or allow it to be legally
used when temporarily admitted in a country, when the system
within which it operates is allowed to offer service in that country.
Authorities may accept type approvals from other countries for
products to be sold and/or used.

In discussing an arrangement on the mutual recognition of type
approvals, the following issues need to be addressed:

the requirements;

the conformity assessment procedure;

marking.

This document discusses how these issues are currently addressed
within the EU and which agreements with third countries have been
established. It concludes with a list of issues, which in our
view need to be addressed in the Working Group dealing with type
approval and marking.

REQUIREMENTS

The term essential requirements in the GMPCS MoU text has
been derived from EU law on industrial products. What is essential
depends on the actual product class and is defined in the product
Directives. The essential requirements applicable to GMPCS Terminals
in the EU are defined in the following EU Directives:

ETSI is in the process of preparing voluntary standards, which
prepare the ground for the development of binding type approval
regulations (Common Technical Regulations, CTRs) to be adopted
in the 2nd half of 1997 under Directive 93/97/EEC. For existing
systems, a number of CTRs are also under development.

Products complying with the requirements of these Directives carry
the CE mark and can be freely placed on the market in all Member
States and put into service. Actual usage of the product may
be constrained by national licensing regimes. It should be noted
that these Directives, where referring to standards, reference
European Standards.

Any arrangement in the MoU needs to focus on a common definition
of the essential requirements applicable to GMPCS equipment.

CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT

The Directives mentioned in the previous section lay down common
conformity assessment procedures. For GMPCS terminals manufacturers
declare compliance with the LVD requirements, whereas compliance
with the requirements of the EMC and SES Directives is either
done via 3rd party testing or certification of (part of) the manufacturing
process.

A certificate issued under the Directives in any EU country is
fully recognised in any EU country.

MARKING

The CE mark must be affixed if a product meets the requirements
of the applicable EU Directives. Given the fact that a number
of Directives are applicable to GMPCS terminals, it would be a
requirement for those terminals to carry the CE mark, in order
to be legally placed on the market.

The European Economic Area (EEA) agreement between the EU and
most of the EFTA countries foresees, amongst other things, full
alignment of the legislation applicable to GMPCS terminals.
There are no remaining barriers to trade in the EEA and type
approved GMPCS terminals can be placed on the market in the whole
EEA area.

In order to facilitate trade, negotiations on mutual recognition
agreements (MRAs) of conformity assessment between the EU and
third countries have been ongoing since a number of years. As
regards the Directives applicable to GMPCS, agreements with Switzerland,
the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have either been concluded
or are about to be concluded. Negotiations with Japan are ongoing,
whereas negotiations with other countries, notably in central
Europe have been or are about to be started.

These MRAs foresee the possibility that type approval is done
in the country of origin on the basis of the requirements of the
destination market. Only in a limited amount of cases
is alignment of the requirements within the scope of the
agreement.

In general the MRAs do not deal with marking issues as
the marking of the destination market is to be used. The agreements
with Switzerland and the EEA countries foresee the usage of the
CE mark.

ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED IN WORKING GROUP I

Existing national and regional type approval and related regimes
and arrangements

Identification of existing national and regional type approval
and marking regimes;